Unpublished IPMs: Thomas de Camoys, knight, Hampshire, 1422

This IPM into the Hampshire lands of Sir Thomas de Camoys ought to have appeared in CIPM xxi alongside IPMs 749-53, which deal with his lands in other counties. Its omission from the calendar must have been accidental, as the original is filed immediately before the others in C 138/57/29.

It provides some interesting details of the administration of Portchester castle, which had been granted to Camoys and his son for their lives by Henry IV in 1399, shortly after Henry's deposition of Richard II. The grant had presumably been made in return for their support of the new regime, though it may also have reflected Camoys' frequent involvement in the French wars, which culminated in his command of the rearguard on the Agincourt campaign, and of the left wing in the battle itself. The castle was an important staging post for expeditions to France - Henry V embarked for the Agincourt campaign from it, having uncovered the Southampton Plot while staying there.

The IPM details the salaries of various officers of the castle which Camoys had to pay out of the castle revenues; a constable (presumably Camoys himself), a porter, a warrener, an armourer and a reeve, and either a sergeant or a steward (the text refers to both, though it seems clear only one office was meant). The warrener and reeve, and perhaps also the steward if there was one, reflect the castle's jurisdiction over the adjacent town of Portchester and a nearby royal forest and warren. The Latin word we have translated as ‘armourer' is armenarius, which can be found in no dictionary but is presumably a variant form of armerarius, though the 1399 grant of the castle to Camoys refers to an artiller (as translated in CPR 1399-1401, 46).

The IPM appears to have been carelessly produced. In addition to the uncertain description of the last officer in the list as both a sergeant and a steward, and the unusual spelling of armenarius, there is an arithmetical mistake; the itemised salaries of the officials add up to only £18 3s., not the £25 14s. 10d. total given in the IPM. Curiously, these salaries are considerably lower than those Camoys had been required to pay by the 1399 grant, in some cases as little as about one third or one half of the 1399 rates. For example the grant had provided for the constable to be paid £18 5s. p.a., the porter and his groom who managed the warren 91s. 6d. and 45s. 9d. respectively, and the artiller £9 2s. 6d.

He was seised in his demesne as of fee of a messuage, a garden, 50 a. arable and 40 a. wood in Lasham, held of the king in chief for 9d. yearly, paid at Winchester castle, and and suit at the hundred of Odiham, annual value 53s. 4d., and of 26s. 8d. rents of assize there.

He held for his life by letters patent [CPR 1399-1401, 46] Portchester castle with the borough of the town, service unknown, annual value nil after the salaries of the constable, porter, warrener, armourer, reeve and sergeant of the castle and town, which salaries amount to £25 14s. 10d., viz. the constable £6 13s. 4d., the porter 60s. 8d., the warrener 40s., the armourer £4 10s., the reeve 5s., the steward [sic] 26s. 8d.